Ernst von Glaserfeld has written about and discussed radical constructivism for many decades. This book is a collection of his principal works from 1974 through 2001. The essays are well written and the ordering of the essays leads the reader through his definitions of the main ideas (e.g. cognition, learning, communication) that are needed to fully understand Glaserfeld’s framework of radical constructivism.

Each essay builds on the previous one to artfully explain radical constructivism. The book is divided into four parts, with the first three parts written by von Glasereld. The last section includes commentaries from Edith Ackermann, Gerard Fourez , Jacques Desautels, Leslie Steffe, and Kennth Tobin — all colleagues and friends.

This would be a great book for someone who wants to delve deeper into constructivism. This book is also a great resource for any graduate class studying constructivism.

Caution: This is a book that you will need to set down repeatedly and so that you can reflect for a while before continuing — at least I needed to!

Jane Ries Cushman currently works at Buffalo State College in Buffalo, NY as an assistant professor. She received her doctorate at The University of Texas at Austin in August 2006. She is editor of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State Newsletter and she is the chair of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Affiliate’s Connection Committee. Her research interests include Inquiry-Based Learning, Problem-Solving and Functions-Based Approach to Algebra.